Health Affairs June 19, 2018
Over the past decade, hospitals and physician offices have made tremendous gains in shifting their record-keeping from paper to computerized systems. This transition to electronic health records (EHRs) has engendered frustration among clinicians who expected computers to make their care more efficient, and among their patients who expected timely access to their information and seamlessly coordinated care.
To address these challenges, a bipartisan majority of Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016 (Cures Act). In part, the law requires the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to improve the interoperability of health information. These efforts are foundational for HHS Secretary Alex Azar’s priority of...